Pakistan hit by wave of terrorist attacks

A wave of violence engulfed Pakistan today as gunmen stormed a government building in Lahore and attacked two police academies near the city - one of them an elite commando training centre.

The attacks took place less than two hours apart and plunged the city into chaos.

Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik said: "The enemy has started a guerrilla war."

In addition, at least eight people were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a police station in the Taliban-riddled north west.

Seven people died in the one and a half-hour gun battle at the Federal Investigation Agency building in Lahore. The dead included two attackers, four government employees and a bystander.

Senior police official Chaudhry Shafiq said one of the dead wore a suicide jacket laden with explosives.

The Federal Investigation Agency is a premier law enforcement organisation that deals with matters ranging from immigration to terrorism.

Local reports said hostages were held during today's gun battle.

The attack appeared similar to a siege mounted on the army's headquarters over the past weekend that left 23 people dead and was claimed by the Taliban as their work. The militants have also claimed credit for other attacks in recent days, warning Pakistan to stop pursuing them in military operations.

The violence was the latest in a string of attacks to rock the US-allied nuclear-armed country as it prepares to launch a major offensive in a Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold.

Police official Habib Khan said police and civilians were among the dead in the suicide attack in Kohat district, an area close to the tribal regions. Around 20 people were wounded.

One of the police training centres under attack today was the Manawan Police Academy, which was targeted by a group of gunmen earlier this year, leading to a eight-hour stand-off that killed 12 people.

Meanwhile, a suspected US missile strike killed four alleged militants, officials said today.

The Pakistani army has given no time frame for the expected offensive in South Waziristan, but has reportedly already sent two divisions totalling 28,000 men and blockaded the region.

Fearing the looming offensive, about 200,000 people have fled South Waziristan since August, moving in with relatives or renting homes in the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan areas, a local government official said.

Senior police official Malik Iqbal said at least one police constable was killed during the attack on the police commando training centre, not far from the airport.

Television footage showed helicopters over one of the police buildings and paramilitary forces with rifles and bulletproof vests taking cover behind trees outside a wall surrounding the compound.